#dqxi dave

[drawingquest21]

[daezedglownut]

Sometimes I feel cheated out of certain scenarios bc how tf did we never get even ONE cut scene where Dave and Hendrik interacted???

Then again, if we got Dave and Hendrik switching into fluent Zwaardsrustian (Dutch), and Hendrik’s accent coming out, I don’t think I’d ever fucking recover, so it’s just as well, really 💀

[finlands-beret]

Looking back through my old photos again, and coming across this. I just realised that if anyone looking at didn't know about 2D-3D switching, seeing Sylv wearing the Gladder Rags (only available in act three) whilst posing beside Dave -which he can only do during his side story- must be WILD.

[sacriou]

She’s a hypocrite but I love her so it’s ok. (Referring to sylv)

[error707-thatdude]

Now for the final classpect chosen for the polls we've got Erik! First of the classpects in which I was certain about the class, not so much the aspect. Once again, dqxi spoilers!

I was somewhere between classpecting Erik as a Rogue of Time or Breathe.

The Rogue is a passive class, described as someone who invites the redistribution of, with, or through their aspect for the benefit if others. In other terms, they're sort of like a Robin Hood! They 'steal' [from/through] their aspect and give it to their team. From my understansing, Rogues are also known for having a perceived lack of their aspect, similar to a Page, but with a tendency to give the little they do have away.

As for aspects, I've got two I've been flipping between. Time is one of two essential aspects of a successful SBURB session, revolving around things like Rhythm, Inevitability, and Traditions/Patterns; there's also a big theme of Death and Sacrifice for Time players.

Breathe, like I said with Jasper, focuses on Freedom, Adaptability, and Leadership. The leadership theme in Blood and Breathe is a little different: Blood focuses on the community and keeping together, strengthening bonds, while Breathe is a more detached leader.

Okay so. It feels like a copout to have the 'thief with a heart of gold' character be the Rogue BUT LIKE SYLV- it just fits. And I have REASONS why I think he could be either Time or Breath.

I wanted to make SOMEONE a Time player, wanted to have them be a successful session. The self sacrificial themes (and to a degree, pattern/rhythm I think) are heavy with Erik, ever since the beginning: he took the brunt of the Vikings abuse for his sister, he got himself caught on the off chance some legend was real, he took a literal leap of faith off of a waterfall for someone he just met, sacrifices his memories so he has a shot at protecting his friends. He makes time for his teammates by giving them openings, cuts down the enemies time with his speed, etc. The themes of Death are also there, with him grieving his sister turned golden statue and her later almost killing him in a rage. (Actually lmao Mia could probably be a Thief, the active counterpart to a Rogue which is funny)

As for Breathe, we'd focus on the Freedom and Adaptability themes. This fits with the 'perceived lack of aspect' seeing as he didn't HAVE freedom, and even when he did he still spent it all on trying to find a solution for his sisters curse. He's adapted to every situation he's been in, knows what to say or how to act. Erik's story could be said to be him accepting his aspect of Freedom, not allowing himself to be tied down, and allowing himself to keep some.

So..... I may sort of kinda wanted him to be a Time player cuz 1) The colors contrast with his hair and 2) I didn't know who else to make a Time guy. Breathe suits him, it REALLY does but he's already BLUE I can't PUT HIM IN MORE BLUE. It's stupid ik but it is driving me insane. Also his super fast moves remind me of flashstepping and Dave Strider....... The more I write the more and more he sounds like the Breath guy I am Suffering.

Le sign. Smurf lookin mf /aff. Might need to start looking at someone else being the Time guy or..... act II end of the world is a Doomed timeline and Serenica is a Time player? So she helps them initiate a Scratch and have the Luminary go back to create a viable timeline?

See I'm totally smart.

Sometimes.

[enbyboiwonder]

I wonder if Alice is a chosen name, like Sylvia is, in which case, I’m even more miffed about them changing his name in the localization. Especially to Dave, a decidedly masculine name, and not even an androgynous name like, I dunno, Pat, or something.

In any case, he’s a pretty cool dude. In Lonalulu, there’s a book about him called Dave: Legend, which reads:

“Despite his humble beginnings as a farmer’s son, our hero’s winning personality and superior physical strength enabled him to quickly climb the ranks of the Zwaardsrustian Royal Navy. But when his beloved king fell, he became a pink-masked privateer, striking fear into the hearts of the vilest scum of the seas, and expressing his grief in an incident that soon became infamous the world over. With the help of a mysterious travelling entertainer friend, he somehow managed to paint the mast of every ship in the inland sea—frigates, freighters, clippers, and caravels—a shocking shade of pink. Even to this day, that bold and brilliant gesture is burnt into the memories of seafarers everywhere, and the name ‘Dave’ into the hearts and minds of admirers everywhere.”

I love him.

[siverwrites]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Dragon Quest XI Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Dave (Dragon Quest XI), Sylvia | Sylvando (Dragon Quest XI) Summary: When Sylvando's down Dave can only do his best. Start of Sylv's chapter

Dave paced the Stallion’s deck and threw worried glances toward the cabin. He’d felt fear when he landed on that beach and saw the colourful figure sprawled in the sand. Then it was relief enough to make his knees weak when he saw Sylv raise his head, as he ran toward him. Then fear again when he dropped back into the sand, all limp and unresponsive to his calls of ‘Sylv’. Still, he was alive, which was more than his deepest fears, not felt in years, tried to tell him, and he did his best to ignore them because this was Sylv and nothing could bring him down.

Not a bleedin’ thing, he reminded himself as he crossed the deck again. Sylv just needed his beauty sleep that was all. He was uninjured, so give him a little longer and he’d come bounding out of there in no time and they could set sail proper. But he’d been down all night and they were both early risers yet only he saw the sun rise this morning and a quick peek told him Sylv was still asleep. He let the morning drift by under the grey and gloomy skies and still the cabin remained silent.

Well, enough was enough. He couldn’t lie about all day with nothing in him but air. He’d get Sylv some food and get him back on his feet in no time.

When he had a tray all set he nudged open the door and was pleased to see Sylvando awake and sitting up. His joy dimmed as Sylvando barely glanced at his entrance and returned his gaze to the wall.

“Good to see ya awake, Sylv.”

“Hmm…”

“I brought you some food. Get somefink in ya, eh?” He gave him a worried look when there seemed to be no reply forthcoming. Even if his face wasn’t hidden behind his helmet Sylvando wouldn’t have noticed for how distant he appeared. “Sylv?”

Sylvando waved vaguely toward the small table beside his bed. “You can leave it there, honey. Thank you.” And his lips twitched up in the worst mask of a smile Dave had ever seen, especially on that face.

“Come on now, Sylv.” He said placatingly and set the tray down. “It looks bad, I’ll give ya that, but wot’s that ever mattered to us?”

Another long pause filled the cabin before Sylvando finally spoke again with a dull and lifeless voice. “I want to be alone… Please.”

Dave grimaced but backed out. Maybe he did just need some time. He could give him that much and there was nowhere in particular to go yet. He had the Salty Stallion drifting off the coast vaguely in the direction of Gondolia. No doubt once Sylv got his head on straight he’d know exactly where he wanted to go next. He only had to wait.

When he checked on Sylvando later that day he found him asleep again and his food barely touched. Dave wasn’t certain if he’d done anything more than shuffle it around the plate. He pulled up the blanket around Sylvando tucking him in more securely, took the food, left water, and hoped tomorrow would be better. It had to be.

It wasn’t much better. He did manage to convince Sylvando to eat, or maybe simple hunger had, but while food went in words weren’t doing much in the way of coming out and he remained conspicuously absent from his usual places on the deck.

“I was givin’ our next course some thought,” Dave tried to silence.

“Some more food?”

“None o’ this is over yet.”

“���Ow ‘bout we find a port soon? Put on a show. Some folks sure could use a smile now.”

Sylvando looked away at that, pained, and Dave fell silent. If that didn’t get anything out of him, what now?

Change came on the third day. Dave stood at the wheel, still feeling the heady relief as the Stallion cut through the waves on a steady course to Gondolia.

It was nearly relief to rival that on the beach when he found Sylvando on the deck where he ought to have been all along. It was another plummet to worry when he spoke and he tried to give up. “Nothing.” “Nobody.” Maybe his hand hadn’t been the kindest idea, but he damn well knew sometimes a short sharp shock was the only way to clear such rubbish. He was the most… the most someone, the most present and lively person Dave had ever met. And he’d meant every word and seeing the light shine again in Sylv’s eyes made the last two days of gloom and worry worth it. Now they were back in business. He had the comfortable feel of wood under his hands. The wind blew them along and Sylvando stood at the prow. Everything was as it should be.

They’d spread some light around, see this gloomy old world brought back up some again, find their friends. And then, oh and then… Dave cracked his knuckles. This Lord of Shadows would get what was coming to him.

[midnight-marimba]

Dave’s backstory

I think I’ve spent too much time trying to research really obscure details regarding DQXI, especially anything vaguely related to Sylvando.  A lot of what I’ve found has been hard to look up, so I’m going to try collecting some of it here.

Let’s start with Dave’s backstory as an officer in the Zwaardsrustian Royal Navy with a tiny nod to Sylvando, in the form of sloppy glued together screenshots about reading books.

And after that we should also know about King Arnout.

[icyhotheartwritings]

Imagine your ff14 blorbos (or whatever blorbos you want I guess) in DQXI’s plot. How well does THAT go?

….SHOCKINGLY GOOD ACTUALLY Imma ramble real quick- I tried to stay away from XIV spoilers except for the Bonus Section at the end, you wouldn’t know unless you Know but there are So Many DQXI spoilers.

Okay so if I was putting people in their most direct counterparts we’ve got

Eleven - Warrior of Light (aka Camus or the default, Meteor)

Erik - Thancred

Serena - Alphinaud

Veronica - Alisaie

Sylvando - Y’shtola

Rab - Papalymo

Jade - Yda

Hendrik - Urianger

We got the one chosen by The Source Of Life. We got thief with knives. We got healer/destructive magic twins. We got the short mage who is the oldest of the group and his younger companion who had to flee her homeland and fights with her fists. The only ones that don’t Exactly fit are Sylv/Y’shtola and Hendrik/Urianger but just. The vibes are kinda There. Especially with Hendrik/Urianger.

Thancred and Erik are just. Knife. Thief. Kinda sarcastic. It Works.

But now I’m just imagining Short Alisaie the entire game and I cannot stop giggling. Actually wait fuck that kills her off SHIT-

Okay the more I think about it. Sylvando saying “halfwit prince” and Y’shtola going “little sun” have the EXACT same vibes oh my god. I can’t see her bringing together the Soldiers of Smile specifically but she’d totally do a Less Dramatic Equivalent.

Yda and Papalymo have so much Rab and Jade vibes I literally was like “wait is this not just Rab and Jade” when I started playing XIV. Also from Heavensward on Jade and Yda share a voice actor so. Bonus.

Urianger is the one I’m least certain about in the role because like, Hendrik is the knight that hunts down the heroes until he realizes he’s in the wrong and switches sides while Urianger is a scholar who’s on the protagonist’s side from the beginning. But they both have the “well if this is for the good of all…” thing going on.

ANYWAY that’s all to say that I think they would handle it incredibly well, maybe a bit more chaotic in some parts and less in others, yknow? They’d get the job done.

Okay so for bonus, here’s some more character swaps. This does contain XIV character name spoilers and comparisons that might give away their role so. Tread lightly.

Dave - Runar

Faris - Emmanellain

Mordegon/Carnelian - Emet-Selch

Jasper - Lahabrea

Frysabel - Aymeric

Krystalinda - Estinien

Calasmos - Meteion

[moved-to-piersgender]

gimme those sylv headcanons

Sylvvvvvv

favorite thing about them: It's Sylv, Sylv is pretty much impossible to hate. Unapologetically queer character not treated like shit by the narrative (they only managed one, but still, it's something!) They're fkn adorable and love to make people happy but also passive agressive as shit and always one step ahead of the situation. They have powerful chaos energy. They have thier own struggles too though, and aren't just a comic relief character. There is literally nothing to hate about the character themselves.

least favorite thing about them: Not gonna beat around the bush, thier fanbase. Sylv is the most popular character in DQXI for a reason, but if someone is like "Sylv is the only character that exists in DQXI ever" there's a highkey chance that they ship my most hated ship, are extremely annoying about it, and get really aggressive over whatever gender headcanon they've given him to the point of accusing everyone with a different one of bigotry. Sylv doesn't deserve the fandom nonsense they attract at all.

favorite line: Cop out, but pretty much everything Sylv says is gold. My mom skips through the voice acting (sigh) but doesn't skip through any of Sylvs.

OTP: I often pair him with Dave for thier super married energy. And you've sold me on Sylv/El as well.

nOTP: Surprise! It's H*nSylv. Yes, pair Sylv with the mess by far the most likely to be carrying around internalized homophobia, no way THAT'S gonna go wrong. Also smacks uncomfortably of Manic Pixie Dream Girl shit where a bright sparkly girl sweeps in to fix a miserable man's life for him, getting nothing in return.

random headcanon: I've stolen Dao's that Sylv is genderfluid, goes by both Sylvia and Sylvando and wears Jewelry of Trans Your Gender. I also agree that 29 is the most logical canon age for him considering what his mom was doing when Zwaardsrust fell (the fact it creates a 7 year age gap in H*nSylv is just a nice bonus). I also think Hendrik is what finished convincing Sylv to leave home, they did not want to turn out Like That.

unpopular opinion: The fact that I don't headcanon them as binary trans and the fact that I don't ship H*nSylv is probably enough to put my firmly in this territory.

song i associate with them: While fully acknowledging the bird related irony, Birdhouse in Your Soul by They Might Be Giants has his his loveable and potentially slightly alarming chaos being energy. Also... I am so sorry

favorite picture of them:

[sparkvamp]

im assuming you'll get a lot of cookie run asks for the ask game since it's the obvious one so i'll ask dqxi !

i love you sammy. also yeah there are a lot of cr asks here. i love u. we should eat chicken off the plate w our mouths like animals without disposable thumbs.)

blorbo is erik kamyu camus. duhhhhhhh (2nd favs who are tied r sylvia and eleven. i love trans people)

scrunkly (ies) are the little lion/tiger monsters that look a lot like erik . the ones that r white w blue mane. special mentions are the tockles and also veronica

scrimblo bimblo is michelle. i miss her

glup shitto is alice/arisu idk they tled their name as Dave in eng and i hate this entire world. theyre everything. the buff person w the pink mask who helps sylvia drive her boat

poor little meow meow is jasper. i like him a normal amount

horse plinko is hendrik. id do it bc i hate his beard.

eeby deeby is also hendrik. i do it bc hes ugly still (sorry.) and jasper too. jasper is going to superhell for gay crimes. and also for being a bitch and having the worst npc name in the whole game (overweening pride) but modtly gay crimes.

EDIT: i wrote this at like 12 am but them my wifi got cut off so it only posted now -_-

[finlands-beret]

Thinking again about all of Sylv's names in various languages:

Japanese: Sylvia English/French: Sylvando Spanish: Servando (Siervando in Gallopolis) Italian: Sylvian German: Rionaldo

Interestingly, their birth name was "Goliath" in Japanese and "Norberto" in every language. But in Italian? "Humberto".

[chupacabrasmustdie]

Truancy

Have yourself a merry little ficlet! There's music, and remembering the good old days… kinda. 400 words, gen, spoilers for act 2 of DQXI. Scroll down or read it on AO3!

Thanks to the lovely @venatohru ​​ for going over this - remaining mistakes all mine.

—

“I like the sound of that. It’s soft.”

Sylvando smiled, head lolling to the side as he plucked the lute’s strings. “Do I detect a hint of criticism against my beloved dulzaina?”

Hendrik blinked. “What? No.”

“I was joking, honey. I realize it’s an acquired taste. And I thought it would be nice to play something, well, a bit softer right now.” Further down the Stallion’s deck, Serena was staring at the sea, her short hair flying about her face.

Hendrik ignored the comment, lost in his own thoughts. “I like the dulzaina. It was fun accompanying you on drums back then. Do you remember?”

“Darling, how could I forget?” Music was part of a caballero’s education - if only to sound good during military parades - but his fondest memories were the hours spent skipping tedious lessons and heading downtown, just Hendrik and him. He’d sing, play the dulzaina, sometimes perform acrobatics (looking back, it was a miracle he hadn’t pulled anything with such poor technique), and all the while his stoic companion would bang his drums without fail, looking like he’d rather be someplace else. In retrospect, maybe he did; more often than not, Sylvando either cajoled or threatened him into coming along.

He grimaced at his past brattiness. “You didn’t look like you were having fun.”

“What we did was against the rules. What if one of the instructors had found us? We would have been in a heap of trouble.” Hendrik rubbed his knuckles against his chin. “I would have, anyway.”

“It must’ve been a relief when I left, then!”

In the silence that followed, he managed to pluck the wrong chord - loudly. Both Dave and the boy looked up from the nautical charts they’d been looking at. He gave them an apologetic smile and played on, mentally kicking himself for that unfortunate remark - truly, an embarrassing cry for attention. Even if Hendrik had felt any sort of way about it, his running away from Puerto Valor was water under the bridge now. Besides, this was Hendrik; the years had done little for his conversational skills, nevermind his ability to talk about his feelings.

His heart wasn’t in the playing anymore and the chords bit at his fingers in an unpleasant way. Next to him, Hendrik got up and before turning away, said, “I very much doubt that’s how your father saw it, at the time.”

Well. He supposed he’d been the one to bring up the subject.

[romijuli]

DQXI OC/NPC WEEK: Day 5: Personal Arc

warnings for: spoilers, Goswin-typical brainweird, mild OC/Canon shipping (specifically Eleven/Goswin, as Goswin is wont to encourage), mild biting (it makes sense in context), canon-typical violence

This took a trip! I am SO happy with how it turned out holy SHIT. I hope the POV shifts aren’t too jarring!!

(also: since [REDACTED] was not originally a monster it’s fair to suggest that [REDACTED] modeled their appearance after an existing one, which is my justification to not have to invent a whole new monster-)

ANYWAY: please enjoy one (1) feral boy.

“Funny,” Eleven signs, and Goswin doesn’t miss how faded his Mark looks. “I lost my powers, and yours are, well, on the fritz, I guess.”

Goswin doesn’t respond; boats don’t agree with him at the best of times, and as Eleven and Rab examine the swirls dancing up his arms, he’d hardly classify now as “the best of times,” so his focus is on not getting sick and on desperately ignoring Eleven’s presence so close to him. Goddess (if She’s even still out there), he was not prepared to be a blushy mess today. And, of course, that’s provoking the rage, now that it’s decided to be a permanent nuisance rather than one that comes only with his anger.

And then the boat lurches as something slams into it, and Goswin attempts to hack the (apparently impervious) monster into pieces as he watches Eleven fall overboard. (Truth be told, it’s only slightly the rage fueling that attack; even if he wasn’t haunted by whatever causes these rages, he’s sure he still would have attempted vengeance.) They manage to pull their Luminary from the waves, back from the edge of non-consciousness, and Goswin breathes a sigh of relief for just a moment before the rage nearly consumes him yet again.

“Is it getting worse here, darling?” Sylv asks, concern written clear on his face. “That might be the key…”

Goswin tries to think as best he can, putting his researcher instincts to the test. Why here… His gaze meets the ruins, and it comes to him. “My…my parents were from Zwaardsrust. Maybe it’s connected this way?”

He doesn’t miss how both Hendrik and Dave’s eyes widen, even through the growing rage. Maybe something to talk about later?

“Aye, then let’s investigate,” Rab replies. “If the source of yer problem lies in the ruins, we ought tae check there.”

And so, any thought of the inn’s strange dream ordeal leaves their minds entirely as they march onward to the ruins of Zwaardsrust, turning over every piece of rubble in search of a secret entrance or any kind of sign, really.

He clears the dust off of what used to be the wall of a house, a familiar sign etched into the stones. “That is…well, it was our family’s crest, I think,” he tells them, and as if the rage itself can sense that the riddle’s nearly been solved, that’s the last real conscious thought he has.

-

Hendrik (reluctantly) restrains him, motioning for the rest of them to continue searching, and Eleven feels horrible. They should have come back here earlier, should have put the whole world-saving thing on hold to spare Goswin from this. Clearly Mordegon could afford to wait.

That on top of the crushing guilt Eleven already feels from the current state of the world…but he can put that on hold for the moment. Right now, helping Goswin is far more important.

(He’s going to ignore the whole…feelings aspect for now. Honestly, even if Goswin does somehow feel the same way, Eleven doesn’t really deserve a boyfriend after…well, after letting the world fall to pieces.)

Sylv motions for him and Rab to join him, gently pulling together a few pieces of the house’s remains. “It looks like a mural. Perhaps that can solve dear Goswin’s dilemma?”

Eleven shudders. He’s not on good terms with murals anymore. For now, though, he puts that beef aside, helping Sylv arrange the rest of the mural.

After entirely too long, considering the very angry boy who is definitely trying to bite Hendrik right now, it’s reasonably understandable. A knight slaying a monster, which mutters…something, and a strange set of red swirls now marking the knight’s arms…and now that he thinks about it, back before everything happened at Yggdrasil, he had seen that pattern before, when he and Goswin had talked in the first forest.

Eleven claps, drawing the attention of everyone nearby. “That’s it! That’s gotta be connected!”

Rab takes a step closer, peering at the words he can make out below the mural. “I’m a wee bit rusty at Zwaardsrustian, but I might just be able tae translate…” He clears his throat. “With his dying breath, the beast laid a curse upon the knight’s bloodline; their bloodlust would one day become insatiable, until the beast’s spirit is finally satisfied.”

Hendrik lets out a sigh as he pries his arm out of Goswin’s mouth for the fifth time. “I cannot recall any tales of such a beast, nor any of a spirit of that kind. Furthermore, I suspect a great number of spirits, monster and otherwise, wander these ruins now.”

Rab nods. “Aye, but if this beastie truly seeks vengeance, it isnae likely to ignore us.”

Right. It really is a waiting game, isn’t it? It’ll rear its head soon enough. Probably.

-

Night falls over the ruins, Hendrik still holds Goswin back from doing any real damage (goddess, the rages never lasted nearly this long), and Eleven suddenly realizes that the monsters have stayed clear of them this entire time. As if this place is protected like their camps are…or, maybe, as if this is another stronger monster’s territory.

An eerie growl fills the space around them, and Eleven just catches a shift in the air, suggesting the presence of, well, a spirit. Eleven grabs his sword, watching the rest of the (unoccupied) group follow his lead.

“It seems my prey has found a pack,” a voice snarls, and the air shimmers as a wolf-like monster fades into view. “No matter. My curse will ensure an end to that, though I can’t promise it will be painless.” Another growl fills the air; Hendrik reaches for his greatsword, and the momentary break in his hold is enough for Goswin to free himself, reaching for his own axe and growling in turn.

Oh, goddess, Eleven really doesn’t want to fight him.

He lets his sword clatter to the ground at his feet, ignoring the gasps of his companions. If Goswin wants a fight while he’s raged up like this, Eleven wants no part in it.

-

It’s fuzzy in his head, everything looks wrong and the sounds are all echoey and every thread of sanity Goswin tries to cling to just slips out of his hands. How long has he been out of control? Minutes, hours, days?

All too suddenly the world snaps into focus around him; he can feel the axe in his hand, hear the monster-spirit (if he’s been able to follow the conversation properly) growling, see his hands as he aims for—no, no, goddess no, what is he doing? If he hurts Eleven again…

He grits his teeth, willing himself to stop moving. “No,” he hisses, and the gasp from his companions only inspires him to fight harder. “No more.”

He breaks through the rage at last, but the power it brings still flows through his veins, concentrated not on Eleven, but on the spirit that threw him into this hell in the first place as he aims his axe straight for its heart.